continuing to fill out a survey for work, despite the fact that your whining, teething child has just puked on you. And almost forgetting that they’ve puked on you by the time you’re done (two minutes later).
Bringing the grunge look back
May 1, 2010 at 12:32 am (Clothes)
My blue jeans have cat toothpaste, infant toothpaste, and infant Tylenol on them. Not to mention spit-up. Because they always have spit-up on them. Spit-up has become invisible to me due to its omnipresence in my life. And yet I have not deemed them dirty enough to wash as yet. Huh.
Wondering
April 12, 2010 at 11:23 pm (Max)
Why putting my son down for a nap has suddenly become very much like wrestling an octopus? One who attempts to bite me and sticks his cute little pajama-clad butt out while trying to scale my shoulders.
Make it stop!!
April 12, 2010 at 1:55 pm (Max)
My son now has a tooth on top as well as two on the bottom. He has figured out how to click or scrape them together. I’m not sure what he’s doing, but it makes my skin crawl. How can he do that on purpose? It makes me cringe for hours every time I accidentally scrape my teeth together!
This lesson is brought to you by Gerber
April 9, 2010 at 2:07 pm (Babies, Food, Uncategorized)
My son’s Gerber Graduates Strawberry Apple Puffs have “natural strawberry apple flavor” listed as one of the ingredients. Now there is such a thing as a strawberry apple. (The first time I ever heard of it was in “Anne of Green Gables”; here’s a link to the chapter mentioning them http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables/Chapter_XVII.) Here’s a link to some varieties: http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/var_s4.htm#strawberrychena. However, I kind of doubt that Gerber actually uses flavoring from actual strawberry apples in their Puffs. What do you think?
Come to think of it, my son’s Gerber Grins and Giggles Toothpaste has “natural apple banana flavor” listed as an ingredient. Now I was SURE there was no such thing as an “apple banana”, but I just checked and I’ll be damned if there isn’t: http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Hawaiian-Candy-Apple-Bananas.aspx. Still, do you really think Gerber uses flavoring from apple bananas in their toothpaste? Huh. Maybe they do. This is obviously very preliminary research. I’ll have to look in to it further.
Well, this post really took a turn. I learned something new. Thanks, Gerber and the aforementioned websites! Now I just have to FIND a strawberry apple … I have wanted to try one ever since I first read “Anne of Green Gables”.
Mommy’s naptime schedule
April 2, 2010 at 4:16 pm (Cats, Max, Motherhood, Sleep)
Ha! Did you think this was a sleep schedule pour moi? Hardly. These are the activities I ALWAYS fit in during Max’s naps in order of the difficulty of doing them with a baby (And, let’s face it, the fun factor of doing them with a baby). I have learned this through trial and error since becoming a mom. I have definitely been forced to get my priorities straight.
1. Use the bathroom (Because I like to do this alone whenever I can. Usually there is a baby and/or assorted cats in there with me. Cats do not seem to get that it is not good to rub around their owner’s legs when said owner is sitting on the toilet.)
2. Eat. (Because the baby will either howl and make you feel guilty because you stranded them in their Jumperoo so you could have two hands to eat or they will babble adorably and make you feel guilty for wishing you could hear the TV over their adorable babble. I love to watch TV while I eat.)
3. Get dressed. (Again, I like to do this alone whenever I can.)
4. Any chores I have time or energy left to do.
Before I go, thanks for your patience with the dearth of posts lately. We moved in to a new house and there has just not been enough time or energy to post the last few weeks. I’m hoping to get back on track now.
Just Finished Reading (with Max)
March 2, 2010 at 12:41 am (Books)
I saw this book on a rerun of “7th Heaven” and had to check it out. Its advice still holds for the most part and it isn’t as preachy as I expected. It is very matter-of-fact and does not talk down to its audience. It will be interesting to see if Max still wants to hear it when he gets a little older.
Just finished reading (with Max)
March 2, 2010 at 12:38 am (Books)
I really liked this. It was very sweet, except for when the grad student in me started wondering why the bunny kept trying to get away from his mother and thought that the mother could be perceived as stalkerish instead of devoted. It’s best not to delve too deeply into some of these things, eh? Overall, another very sweet tale from the author of “Good night, Moon” and “The Big, Red Barn”.
Who’s really being weaned?
March 2, 2010 at 12:34 am (Breastfeeding, Life, Max)
Well, my son has been fully weaned at seven months. I tried to do it slowly. I was planning to still nurse him in the morning and at night. It snowballed somehow. I guess we were both just ready. He didn’t seem to be getting enough food and he was so distracted all the time that many feeding sessions had become an ordeal. Plus, he still bit me occasionally (although he had gotten much better about that).
He seems to be taking it pretty well, as far as I can tell. He accepts the bottle readily (He actually gets excited when he sees one.) and no longer gets confused and tries to go for both the breast AND bottle when I give him a bottle. I, however, am feeling a bit sad. I might still be able to go back, but I don’t think it’s the right thing. Still, the right thing isn’t always easy.
I will never breast-feed Max again. He has taken another step towards independence. I will find a way to make up for the closeness I felt when I nursed him. Until then, I am sad.
Enslaved when the stick turns blue
February 24, 2010 at 11:35 pm (Childbirth, legislation, Pregnancy)
I was angry. SO angry. Now I am just sad. And frightened out of my mind.
Utah is considering and apparently likely to pass a law criminalizing miscarriage. A woman could receive up to life in prison if a medical professional even thinks and a prosecutor can prove that she did anything that could have intentionally caused a miscarriage:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/2/24/840197/-Please-Help:-Utah-defines-miscarriage-as-criminal-homicide
Yesterday I heard about a woman in Florida whose doctor obtained a court order to force her in to the hospital for bed rest:
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/doctor_gets_court_order_to_confine_pregnant_woman_against_her_will
Today, I heard about Iowa’s feticide law:
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/pregnant_iowa_woman_arrested_for_falling_down
I should have known about all of this sooner. I fully blame myself for not being more informed. But now I know. And I am mad as hell. I am a feminist, but I love men. I am concerned about hatred or dislike or prejudice expressed towards men, especially now that I have a son to raise.
However, it appears that many do not have the same concern for hatred or dislike or prejudice expressed towards women. I have wondered the past few years whether my concerns for women’s rights were overblown in this day and age. Maybe I was being oversensitive. I have no doubt now that my concerns are completely valid.
Now some lawmakers in Utah and THIRTY-SEVEN other states think women are not trustworthy enough to be entrusted with this natural process we have performed for milennia. All of a sudden, women are too dangerous or just too stupid to safeguard a human life. The state governments think we need to be forced in to protecting our pregnancies. They think they suddenly need to help us with our biological privilege of carrying children.
I have a child. I wanted to be a mother ever since I was a little girl. I loved being pregnant. I thought childbirth was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I think pregnancy and childbirth are fascinating in general. I am even considering becoming a doula one day. I definitely want more kids. It makes me proud to be a woman, knowing that my body can protect and produce a life and nourish it.
Women have been doing this since the beginning of the human race.
They are trying to hide behind wanting to protect children. But there is a real, live, breathing, complex human being carrying that child. A human being with rights. With as many rights as that fetus. I want more children, but this possibility makes me scared to have more children. If more of these laws are enacted, I very well might not. Being pregnant is nerve-wracking enough without worrying that you will be arrested for having a miscarriage after drinking Diet Coke throughout your first trimester.
Where are our advocates? Where is Gloria Steinem? Where is Hillary Clinton? (She can usually be trusted to say something, even if it’s not popular.) Where is President Obama? Where is Michelle Obama? Does President Obama just not care about all the women who voted for him?
I feel like there is no one to protect me. I can’t believe that this proposal has gotten as far as it has. I can’t believe that so many do not realize what an atrocity this is against women and what it says about society’s attitude towards women. They are saying that we do not matter at all if we are carrying a child. They are saying we have no rights and are untrustworthy and possibly stupid.
STOP trying to legislate my body. I know how to protect myself. I know how to protect any children I carry. I can be trusted to do so. And so can most other women. Please spread the word. Do not let this happen. Do not let the last vestiges of joy and wonder be taken from pregnancy and childbirth. Don’t let the government kick a woman who has lost her child when she is down. Women have been entrusted with pregnancy and childbirth since the beginning of the human race. Women are human beings with rights who do not become pregnant by themselves, but are sometimes left alone with the consequences. Butt out and let us make our own decisions like every other American adult. Butt out and leave the baby production to the experts.
Kittymomma's Adventures 